


Bathwater and Brimstone

by Stariceling



Category: Slayers (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Community: 12daysofxxxmas, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-12-06 00:22:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/729550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stariceling/pseuds/Stariceling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zelgadis shares a bath with Xellos. But who knows what the trickster priest really has in mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bathwater and Brimstone

Zelgadis didn’t bother to check the water before stepping in and got a bit of a surprise. The water in the outside bath was scalding hot. At least, it probably would have been scalding to human skin. Even to him this temperature was on the upper edge of endurable.

That did explain why no one else seemed to be out here enjoying the bath. Zelgadis had a moment to be selfishly glad to have the bath to himself, for whatever reason. He found a comfortable place to sit, set down his bath kit nearby, and sank down into the hot water. He would endure worse than this to have a private bath for once.

Maybe not completely private. After a minute Zelgadis noticed Xellos was also in the bath, conveniently hidden in the shadows of a rock outcrop the jutted up at the edge of the pool. He was leaning his crossed arms on the tiles that ran right up to the lip of the pool, his smooth back turned toward Zelgadis.

That sort of quiet company, Zelgadis didn’t really mind. He was happy to have Xellos ignore him, though he was sure the trickster priest knew he was there. He spent a few minutes simply soaking in the hot water, leaning into the rocks behind him with his head tilted back to see the stars. Once he acclimated to it, the hot water was actually pretty nice.

“Would you like to share a drink with me?”

Zelgadis looked over, startled. He was a little more surprised than he should be that Xellos was addressing him. Xellos made a casual gesture to a wooden basin floating in the water beside him that Zelgadis hadn’t noticed before. It had a simple black sake flask and a pair of matching cups arranged neatly inside.

Zelgadis had a vague feeling that none of it had been there a moment before. And why would Xellos need two cups in the first place?

The offer itself was too surreal for him to decide at first exactly what to object to in this situation. When he didn’t protest, Xellos filled one of the cups from the flask with a cheerful flourish, then gave the tub a light push to make it float over in Zelgadis’s direction.

Zelgadis straightened up and reached to catch the tub as it bobbed leisurely toward him. He looked the full cup over, inspecting it suspiciously. The liquid looked like sake, smelled like sake. . . and an experimental sip confirmed that it tasted like sake as well. You never could be quite sure when it was Xellos offering food, after all.

A few cautious sips proved that whatever Xellos had offered, which was probably sake, was actually quite good. The first sip left a bitter taste in the back of his throat, but by the time he had drained the cup Zelgadis was ready to think he had imagined that.

Meaning to be polite, Zelgadis picked up the flask and filled the other cup for Xellos before giving the tub a light push to send it back.

Now he was sitting up, Zelgadis reached around to get at the small tub of accouterments he had brought out. There was one positive thing to be said about Xellos’s oddly silent company. There were no comments about the fact that his bathing kit included wire cutters.

Zelgadis busied himself for a few minutes, sorting out and clipping hairs that were bent or burnt beyond repair. He couldn’t exactly get a normal haircut, and if he let his hair get out of control it had a tendency to scrape against his face.

The wooden tub bumped against his arm while he was distracted with his careful grooming. Zelgadis looked inside to find the same configuration as before. Xellos sending him another drink.

A suspicious glance showed that Xellos had somehow silently shifted closer. Zelgadis couldn’t tell what any of this was about just by looking at him. That trickster’s smile was his default expression.

The sake was still good, at least. Zelgadis drained his cup, poured another drink for Xellos, and sent the tub back. He was already used to their odd exchange.

The next time the wooden tub bumped into his arm, Zelgadis looked over to find Xellos was holding it. Zelgadis had hoped he wouldn’t be in a friendly enough mood to come all the way over.

“So tell me, how do you do the back?”

“This?” Zelgadis asked, indicating hair and wire cutters. He was too startled to even take offense. “By feel.”

“That’s no good. Let me lend you a hand.”

“No.”

“Now, now, don’t be like that. I’ll be careful.”

Zelgadis put down his wire cutters and finished off another cup of sake. He thought to brace himself, because Xellos was so very annoying when he started wheedling like that, but the alcohol was putting a heat in the pit of his stomach that matched the heat of the bath nicely. Against his better judgement, Zelgadis found the combined heat relaxing him. It didn’t sound like _such_ a bad idea, after all.

“You did something to the water,” Zelgadis commented as he handed over the wire cutters and turned to let Xellos get at the back of his head. He didn’t even need to ask. He was sure Xellos had done something to heat the bath past what a normal person could enjoy.

“Now why would you say something like that?”

Zelgadis felt Xellos’s fingers at the back of his neck, and was distantly aware that this was probably a very stupid idea, but he was too warm and relaxed to really act on that thought.

And anyway, Xellos didn’t do anything. Zelgadis could feel Xellos finger-combing his hair. Every strand he clipped off and laid aside was obviously damaged. There didn’t seem to be any harm in it. Xellos would periodically free one hand to refill his cup with sake. On the whole, Xellos was being suspiciously polite.

It didn’t consciously occur to Zelgadis that he had already drunk more sake than should have been in a single flask, but he did lazily notice that he hadn’t had to return the favor of refilling Xellos’s cup. The realization that he was the only one drinking roused enough suspicion to sharpen Zelgadis’s dulled senses.

Then Xellos’s hand was pushing his hair up and out of the way, and there was the faint feeling of lips on his exposed neck. He felt Xellos’s free hand sliding down his back, then moving to stroke over his hip and curl around toward his thigh.

Zelgadis had to open his mouth to pant. He was too lightheaded to move, and so hot he just wanted to melt. There was a definite temptation to lean back and let whatever was happening just happen. The suspicions tugging around the edges of his mind were dissolving again with the pleasure of a firm hand stroking up and down his stomach.

It took a sudden, sharp pain to bring him to his senses. Xellos was sinking teeth hard into his exposed neck, and it _hurt_ more than anything should hurt through his stone skin. Coupled with the pain came a sudden movement against his back, as if Xellos intended to mount him sexually. Zelgadis was no longer the least bit relaxed.

“Get off!”

One violent twist threw Xellos off of him, but it wasn’t enough. Zelgadis followed with a sharp kick into Xellos’s stomach as he lept backwards, up and out of the bath.

Zelgadis thought he was ready for a proper fight, fury pounding in his blood to the point where it deafened him. For one blind moment he wanted nothing more than to beat Xellos into a bloody pulp for trying to take advantage of him.

He had no idea what to make of the way Xellos was looking at him. The mazoku had his eyes open, pupils impossibly dilated. Zelgadis saw rather than heard him gasp in a deep, open-mouthed breath. For that second that his face was open, every facet of his expression seemed to be one of intense pleasure.

It was only creepier when his usual smiling mask slipped back into place. Zelgadis took a few steps back. He didn’t want to touch Xellos right now, not even to thrash him, and reason was reminding him just how powerful Xellos really was. If he threw himself into a fight now. . . Anger still overruled his unnerved fear and allowed him to storm away with some modicum of dignity left.

He could feel Xellos’s eyes on him. He refused to look around. He would not give Xellos that satisfaction.

* * *

It took more self control than he had expected to simply watch Zelgadis leave. Xellos wanted to follow, to incite that delicious fury to build higher and higher and sample even more of Zelgadis’s burning rage.

Zelgadis went beyond ‘cute’ when he was angry. It was nice enough to taste the atmosphere around him while he was brooding or sulking, but the sudden, hot rush of anger Zelgadis had treated him to had been far more delicious than Xellos had even hoped. Not to mention the fun of slowly setting Zelgadis up for that outburst.

He couldn’t forget the little moments of fun that were included in getting Zelgadis riled up, of course. Xellos certainly wanted to taste more, but more than that. . . he had to take his time, to savor every move. If he didn’t, Zelgadis would burn out long before Xellos was done sampling him.


End file.
